


Two of a Kind

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Brother and Sister - Freeform, Comfort, Family, Gen, Nervousness, New Beginnings, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 02:56:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16508030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Kally comforts Roald before he begins page training.





	Two of a Kind

Two of a Kind 

Kally crept into her older brother’s room. Her slippered feet were cat-quiet as they crossed Roald’s carpet but the sliver of light when she slipped through the door had fallen on his face, making him open his eyes and stare at her. 

“Kally.” Roald’s tone was the mildly exasperated one he assumed whenever she transgressed the bounds of propriety Master Oakbridge had taught them in tremendously boring detail since they had learned to talk. “I’m trying to sleep.” 

“With an emphasis on trying.” Unintimidated by his gentle scolding, Kally climbed into her brother’s bed, tucking her cheek against his. She hadn’t been astonished that he had gone to bed soon after dinner. Nor had she been shocked to hear him tossing and turning through the wall that separated their bedchambers, no doubt tormented by visions of the page training he would start the next day. “I could hear you rolling around like a pig in mud.” 

“I’m sorry I kept you awake.” Roald’s cheek burned with the beginning of a blush beneath Kally’s. 

“I don’t mind. I couldn’t sleep thinking about you leaving either,” Kally whispered, feeling the comfort she always had when she confided to him the nightmares that prevented her from sleeping. Ever since she was little, it was him she had curled beside for comfort and protection against all imagined nighttime terrors. Mama and Papa tried to be patient and take her fears seriously when she came to them, but she knew they were pretending. Roald never had to pretend to be patient with her, and he always took her fears as seriously as if they were his own. They were only a year apart in age, and they had been twins in their souls since she was born. Thinking that she wanted to spend every possible minute that she had left with him before page training stole him from her, she added, “I’ll help you carry your bags up to the pages’ wing.” 

“You don’t have to. I wouldn’t want to impose upon you.” Roald was very careful about not imposing himself on anyone, Kally thought as she heard his unsurprising answer. 

“I want to help you, silly.” Kally smiled at how funny her brother’s serious focus on perfect manners could sometimes be. “I’m going to miss you when you’re busy with your training in the pages’ wing this year, but next fall, I’ll begin training with you. Then neither of us will have to be alone.” 

She only had to get through one year of lessons, she told herself, without him beside her to help her or to be distracted by her high spirits and creative capacity for mischief. They had shared so many lessons throughout their childhood, and soon they would start sharing them in the pages’ wing. Kally only had to be patient for a year that would probably feel like an eternity. Then she would be reunited with the brother who in so many ways was her hero. He would enter the whirling world of the pages’ wing first so he could test its waters, finding the calm paths through the chaos that she could navigate so she wouldn’t get into trouble unless she chose to because Roald was so committed to doing the right thing in every situation that he never took a wrong step while she was watching. 

Roald was silent and she could feel a slight frown forming on his lips. Unable to resist the chance to tease him for how easy he was to embarrass, she nudged him in the ribs. “Will you be embarrassed when I come to the pages’ wing, Roald?” 

“Not at all.” Roald tugged lightly on her hair, his vengeance for the elbow in the ribcage. “You’re my sister. You could never embarrass me.” 

“Even if I eat my dessert with my salad fork?” Kally twisted away from his tugging fingers with a smile. 

“Even if you eat your dessert with your salad fork.” Roald’s crooked grin at this terrible crime against etiquette could be heard in his voice, and Kally’s chest swelled with warm pride at how she had chased away the nightmares of the pages’ wing that had kept him tossing and turning for hours. 

“I’ll stay with you tonight.” Kally wrapped herself around him like a blanket, remembering how he had held her close when she came to him with her nightmares of monsters under her bed so many years ago. Everything came full circle in her relationship with Roald. That was why they were, as Mama and Papa said, two of a kind.


End file.
